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5 Worst Car Manufacturers

This page provides multi-year tables of the 5 worst car companies by two measures of quality - frequency of trouble-prone models and overall reliability. The "Bottom 5 Car Makers by Frequency of Trouble-Prone Models" table gives the 5 worst manufacturers for years 1990 (covering model years 1984 to 1989), 1995 (covering model years 1987 to 1994), 2000 (covering model years 1992 to 1999), 2005 (covering model years 1997 to 2004), and 2010 (covering model years 2004 to 2009). The "Bottom 5 Car Makers by Overall Reliability" table gives the 5 worst manufacturers for years 1975 (covering model years 1971 to 1974), 1980 (covering model years 1974 to 1979), 1985 (covering model years 1979 to 1984), 1990 (covering model years 1984 to 1989), 1995 (covering model years 1987 to 1994), 2000 (covering model years 1992 to 1999), 2005 (covering model years 1997 to 2004), and 2010 (covering model years 2004 to 2009).

Five Worst Car Companies by Frequency of Trouble-Prone Models in Years 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005, and 2010

This ranking of the car companies is based on each manufacturer's frequency of trouble-prone models. It provides a measure of how unsuccessfully each company's models avoided the bottom end of the model-quality spectrum.

Bottom 5 Car Makers by Frequency of Trouble-Prone Models

Car Company

1990

1995

2000

2005

2010

BMW AG

-

-

-

-

5 Worst

Chrysler Group

-

-

5 Worst

-

5 Worst

Daimler (Mercedes-Benz and Smart)

-

-

-

5 Worst

-

Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. (Subaru)

5 Worst

-

-

-

-

Ford Motor Company

-

5 Worst

5 Worst

-

-

General Motors Corporation

5 Worst

5 Worst

5 Worst

5 Worst

5 Worst

Hyundai Motor Company

5 Worst

5 Worst

-

-

-

Isuzu Motors Ltd.

-

5 Worst

5 Worst

-

-

Jaguar

5 Worst

-

-

5 Worst

-

Saab

5 Worst

-

5 Worst

-

5 Worst

Volkswagen AG

-

5 Worst

-

5 Worst

5 Worst

Volvo

-

-

-

5 Worst

-

By this measure of quality, General Motors Corporation was among the five worst for each of the above years. Also, Ford Motor Company's drop in quality in the 1990s shows up here.

This ranking of the car companies is based on the average of the overall reliability ratings of each manufacturer's models. It provides a measure of how well a car maker's models performed over the entire model-quality spectrum.

Bottom 5 Car Makers by Overall Reliability

Car Company

1975

1980

1985

1990

1995

2000

2005

2010

American Motors Corporation

5 Worst

5 Worst

5 Worst

-

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

BMW AG

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

5 Worst

Chrysler Group

5 Worst

5 Worst

5 Worst

5 Worst

5 Worst

5 Worst

5 Worst

5 Worst

Daimler (Mercedes-Benz and Smart)

-

-

-

-

-

-

5 Worst

-

Fiat S.p.A.

-

5 Worst

-

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

Ford Motor Company

-

-

5 Worst

5 Worst

5 Worst

5 Worst

-

-

General Motors Corporation

-

-

5 Worst

5 Worst

5 Worst

5 Worst

-

5 Worst

Hyundai Motor Company

N/A

N/A

N/A

5 Worst

5 Worst

-

-

-

International Harvester Company

5 Worst

-

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

Isuzu Motors Ltd.

-

-

-

-

-

-

5 Worst

-

Jaguar

-

-

-

5 Worst

-

-

5 Worst

-

PSA Peugeot Citroën

-

5 Worst

-

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

Saab

5 Worst

5 Worst

-

-

-

5 Worst

-

5 Worst

Volkswagen AG

-

-

5 Worst

-

5 Worst

5 Worst

5 Worst

5 Worst

Volvo

5 Worst

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Here it may be seen that by overall reliability the Chrysler Group was among the five worst long before its acquisition of American Motors Corporation. It may also be seen that GM did not join the Bottom 5 until the 1980s, and in more recent years the Chrysler Group, General Motors Corporation, and Volkswagen AG appear to be setting similar standards.

Although Volvo and Jaguar were owned by Ford Motor Company for some of the above years and Saab was owned by General Motors Corporation for some years, they were treated as a separate companies for all of the years.

Two sections of the April issues of Consumer Reports are used in selecting the 5 worst companies by frequency of trouble-prone models. They are (1) the table of Used Cars to Avoid and (2) the reliability charts.

Finding the five worst car makers by frequency of trouble-prone models involves two steps.

The first step is to count each manufacturer's entries in CR's table of Used Cars to Avoid. Each model year of each model is treated as a separate entry.

Next, as the number of automobile models of a car manufacturer varies greatly from company to company, it is necessary to take account of the fact that a manufacturer with more models has a greater opportunity to have more model years of low quality. To compensate for a possibly inflated, or deflated, frequency of trouble-prone model years of a manufacturer, as well as a variability in model data sufficiency, the number of a maker's entries in CR's Used-Cars-to-Avoid list is divided by the total number of overall reliability ratings for the manufacturer found in the reliability charts of the same issue of Consumer Reports.

To be ranked in a given year, the manufacturer must have at least 5 overall reliability ratings.

Selecting the 5 Worst Car Manufacturers by Overall Reliability

One section of the April issues of Consumer Reports is used in selecting the 5 worst companies by overall reliability - the reliability charts.

To rate and rank car makers using Consumer Reports' overall reliability ratings, a number is first associated with each of CR's overall ratings. A +1.0 is ascribed to a rating of Much Better Than Average, a +0.5 to a rating of Better Than Average, a 0 to a rating of Average, a -0.5 to a rating of Worse Than Average, and a -1.0 to a rating of Much Worse Than Average. Then an average is taken over all of the manufacturer's model years and models offering an overall reliability rating. Lastly, the automobile manufacturers with at least 5 overall reliability ratings are ordered from best to worst for each of the years 1975, 1980, 1985, 1990, 2000, 2005, and 2010.

As Consumer Reports did not offer an overall reliability rating in its 1995 reliability charts, a simple average of the manufacturer's reliability percentrank averages for model years 1988 to 1994 was taken.

CarsOnInfo.net: The car-quality website for the above-average consumer.

This volume of AutoOnInfo.net’s car guide series offers consumers and researchers an historical summary of the reliability and durability of car and truck brands and examines how these brands have fared in their U.S. market shares. It uses 6-year-old model entries in Consumer Reports’ Used Car to Avoid – also termed Vehicles to Avoid and Worst Cars, Year by Year – and CR’s reliability charts to ascribe quality grades to automobile brands for model-year groups 1985 to 1989, 1990 to 1994, 1995 to 1999, 2000 to 2004, 2005 to 2006, and 1985 to 2006. In addition to ascribing quality grades to each brand, it provides a chart that plots the number of the brand’s 6-year-old model entries in CR’s vehicles to avoid. To examine the effect that a brand’s reliability and durability has had on sales, two or more charts depicting the brand’s U.S. market shares for calendar years 1985 to 2009 are given. These grades and charts and the author’s comments impart an historical perspective that sheds light on the present condition of surviving vehicle lines and their future prospects, individual and institutional shortcomings, and what effect these may have on the U.S.

JB

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Hard Copy Books by James Bleeker available on www.blurb.com

To the left are the icons of the hard copy editions of Volumes 2, 3, 4, and 5 of AutoOnInfo.net's Car Quality Series. To view a description of the book on blurb.com or purchase a copy, click the applicable icon.

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Kindle E-books by James Bleeker available on www.amazon.com

To the left are icons of the Kindle editions of Volumes 1, 2, 3, and 4, of AutoOnInfo.net's Car Quality Series. To view a description of the book on amazon.com or purchase a copy, click the applicable icon. To view all, click here.

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To the left is an icon of the Kindle edition of Volumes 5, 6, and 7 of AutoOnInfo.net's Car Quality Series. To view a description of the book on amazon.com or purchase a copy, click the applicable icon. To view all, click here.

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Pdf Editions of Books by James Bleeker available on www.scribd.com

To the left are icons of the pdf editions of Volumes 2, 4, and 5 of AutoOnInfo.net's Car Quality Series. To view a description of the book on scribd.com or download a copy, click the applicable icon. The pdf editions of Volumes 4 and 5 are available at no charge.

To the left are icons of the pdf editions of Volumes 6 and 7 of AutoOnInfo.net's Car Quality Series. To view a description of the book on scribd.com or download a copy, click the applicable icon. The pdf edition of Volume 7 is available at no charge. Volumes 6 and 7 have enhanced navigational capability as well as an improved page style.